Controller for door-motors.



F. MGELROY CONTROLLER FOR DOOR MOTORS APPLIUATION rum) SEPT. 2a, 1908.

Patented May 30, 1911.

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JAMES F. MOELROY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED GARHEAT- ING COMPANY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

CONTROLLER FOR DOOR-MOTORS.

Application filed September 23, 1908.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. MoELRoY, a citizen of the United Statesresiding at A.- bany, in the county of Albany and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controllers forDoor-Motors, of which the following is a specification.

This lnventlon relates to mechanism adapted to control amotor foroperating a door or other moving member from a distant point, forexample operating a railway-car door by compressed air with a controllervalve located on the car platform.

The principal features of the invention relate to a duplex controllermechanism whereby doors at opposite ends or in different parts of thecar may be simultaneously operated, and in this connection my object isto enable both doors to be controlled by one hand of a person if he sodesires or to enable the doors to be controlled separately.

Parts of my invention also apply to the construction of a singlecontroller mechanism and include the provision of means for causing themotive fluid to be admitted quickly through the valve but exhaustedslowly, and means for permitting the detachment of the controller handleonly in one position, that is preferably only when the door is closed.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan showing thecont-rollers and their relation to a car having dooroperating motors.Fig. 2 illustrates the manner of operating two valves with one hand.Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section showing the construction of theduplex valve mechanism. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of said mechanismon the line 44 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view partly in section, ofone of the valve plates.

In Fig. 1, I have shown the outline of a car body 10 provided with fourdouble-ended motors 11 for operating the four sliding doors 12. Thesemotors may be of any suitable construction such as a pair of opposedreciprocating fluid-pressure diaphragms connected together andcommunicating motion to the door through intermediate connections 13which may also be of any suitable character. Each motor can also operateone of the car steps although I have not shown the latter or itsconnections in detail. In Fig. 1, one end of one of the motors isdesignated as Door openmg and the other Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 30, 1911.

Serial No. 454,466.

end of the same mot-or as Door closing, the arrangement being such thatcompressed air is admitted to the door-opening end and simultaneouslyexhausted from the doorclosing end to open the door, and when the dooris closed this operation is reversed.

Compressed air is led from a tank 1 1 through pipes 15 to a duplex valvemecha nism 16 on each car platform, which has connection through pipes17 with two of the dooroperating motors 11. The two valve devicesincluded in each controller are piped to the two motors for operatingthe doors at opposite ends but on the same side of the car, so that themotorman when on either platform can control both doors on the sidewhich is then the entering side. The two valve devices comprising theduplex controller are capable of independent operation so that themotorman can open and close the door at either end of the car on theentering side independently of the door at the opposite end on thatside, but in order to also enable him to operate both doors on the sameside simultaneously I have located the two valve devices of thecontroller close together and have so arranged their operat ing leversor handles 18 as to enable both levers to be grasped and simultaneouslyswung in the same direction by one hand of the operator. These levershave parallel door-opening and parallel door-closing positions. Thesimultaneous manual operation is particularly indicated in Fig. 2showing that one of the levers 18 can be grasped between the thumb andfore-finger and the other lever between the third finger and littlefinger. As here arranged, swinging the levers to the left or clockwisecloses the doors, and swinging them to the right opens the doors.

The construction of the controller is set out in detail in Figs. 8, 4,and 5. 19 are the valve plates oscillating horizontally on flat seats20, each plate carrying two driving horns or lugs 21 on its upper faceadapted to embrace a complemental horn or lug 22 on a valve key 23 whichis mounted above the valve and provided with a stem 24 projectingupwardly through the valve casing 25 to receive the operating handle orlever 18. The latter is attached to stem 24L by a feather 29. The hub ofthe lever 18 has a radial lug 26 occupying an under-cut groove 27 in thevalve casing and adapted to leave said groove only when the lugregisters with a recess 28 in the upper Wall of the groove. Thus theoperating lever is detachable from the stem 24 only When the valve is inposition for closing the door. Lever 18 operates in a recess between theends of the segmental locking flange 30 forming the upper wall of groove27, said ends constituting stops 31 for limiting the movement of thelever.

In the lower body 32 of the valve casing are formed a supply-duct 33having an opening 34 which communicates with the compressed-air pipe 15,and an exhaust-duct 35 communicating with the atmosphere. Air reachesthe valve seats 20 through ports 36 and is communicated to the spaceabove the valve plates 19 through a segmental slot 37 in each valveplate. The end-walls of this slot form cut-offs for controlling theadmission of air alternately to a pair of ports 38 in the valve seatconnecting with the pipes 17 leading to opposite ends of one of themotors 11. Opposite port 36 in the valve seat is an exhaust-port 49communicating with the exhaust-duct 35 and controlled by a segmentalport 50 on the under side of the valve plate which is adapted to connectport 49 alternately with the respective ports 38. Thus when the valve isturned in one posi tion it charges one end of the motor and dischargesthe opposite end, and when turned in the other position it exhausts thefirst end and charges the other end. Any suitable arrangement foreffecting the charging and discharging functions may be adopted andCopies of this patent may be obtained for my invention is not concernedespecially therewith except as hereinafter noted in connection with Fig.5.

Preferably I provide a packing washer 51 between the key 23 and theopposed wall of the valve casing and ribs 52, 53 on said key and wallrespectively. Between the valve plate and the key is interposed avalveseating spring 54.

Fig. 5 shows an improvement in the construction of the valve plate 19according to which the port 50 is made with a constriction at 55 so thatwhen the door-opening end of the motor is exhausted the exhaust will bethrottled and the door will close slowly.

I claim The combination with a plurality of motors for operating cardoors or similar elements, of a base provided with supply and exhaustducts and spaced apart valve seats, a valve plate resting on each seat,a valve key arranged to operate each plate, and controlling members forsaid valve keys, said controlling members being capable of individualand simultaneous operation and relatively arranged to assume parallelpositions in all steps of their simultaneous operation.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses, this 21st day of September 1908.

JAMES F. MCELROY.

Witnesses:

BEULAH OARLE, ERNEST D. JANsEN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. C.

